Maine Builder Sees a Strong Year Ahead

Home sales in the state of Maine saw a big bounce last
month, the Maine Public Broadcasting Network reports, with 815
homes selling in the month as compared with just 558 in March
of 2009
("
Maine Home Sales Show Strong Gains"). Nationally, home
sales were up 27%.
Mike Wood, vice president of Bangor-based Woods of Maine,
Inc., told the Bangor Daily News that his crews are busy
banging nails
("Maine
contractors see housing growth in 2010," by Nick Sambides,
Jr.). Wood has eight houses underway in two subdivisions,
priced in starter-home territory at $119,900 to $169,900, he
told the paper.
Other sources told the Daily News that the recovery, if any,
was coming slowly. But according to Wood, aiming at a moderate
price point is a good way to catch the wave. “If you
can keep a house for below $189,900, you can sell houses all
day,” Wood told the paper. “If you sell a
house for above that, you can plan on sitting on it for
awhile.”
For some builders, adjusting to the new statewide building
code could be a stumbling block. Maine is set to start
enforcing the 2009 International Building Code and
International Residential Code effective June 1, 2010. The
city of
Bangor already enforces the 2003 IBC and IRC, so builders
there will have to make relatively few major adjustments. But
more than 100 Maine cities and towns have no building code at
all, according to TV station WCSH
("
Maine builders readying for new construction standards," by
Ken Christian). For those small-town builders, the switch could
be a little tougher. The state has yet to even publish the new
code, WCSH says. For information, check the website of the
Maine Bureau of
Building Codes and Standards.